Recap: Hot Shooting @UNCBearsWBB Advance to Big Sky Semifinals

Wednesday, March 7

Reno, Nev.

1:05 pm

University of Northern Colorado

24-6

Montana

14-17

Montana

Northern Colorado

3/7/2018 4:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Northern Colorado's hot shooting first half leads them to the Big Sky Semifinals

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

RENO, Nev. – Northern Colorado women's basketball went on a terror from beyond the arc early on as they defeated Montana 78-69 to advance to the semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament. The Bears shot 40.0 percent for the game and 42.9 percent from 3-point land in the win.

(3/7/2018) WBB vs Montana

Northern Colorado came out firing from behind the arc against Montana, as its first nine baskets of the game were 3-pointers. Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year Kianna Williams showed off her offensive skill set, draining three of the team's seven 3s in the quarter as the team led 21-14.

The hot 3-point shooting did not end after the first quarter as UNC drained two more treys to expand the lead to 13. Northern Colorado's first made two came from Tiarna Clarke with 8:36 left in the first half. UNC went on a three minute scoring drought after that, allowing Montana to cut the Bears lead to six. Northern Colorado responded, closing the half out on a 12-2 run and lead 43-27 at the break.

In the second half, UNC did a good job of managing the game. Montana, cut the Bears lead down to 10 with four minutes left in the third, but the team responded with a 6-0 run led by Savannah Scott. Scott scored 10 of her 16 points in the third quarter. The Bears entered the final 10 minutes of play up 60-48.

Northern Colorado quickly extended the lead back to 16 as Alexis Chapman joined in the 3-point party with one of her own less than a minute into the quarter. Montana cut the UNC lead to seven with 5:47 remaining, but the Bears extended it back to 13 within two minutes. The lead would stay between nine to 13 points the rest of the way.

What They Said
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge

Overall thoughts on the game
"We just started the game as good as we could. We got out to the hot start and a well played first half guarding well and getting good looks. The game just changed a little for us and we had the lead. We may have played a little tentative and to use the clock. We had great composure and leadership from our upperclassman and that was important. No matter what it's hard to win the first one and we are glad we to get it done."

On attacking Montana's multiple defenses
"My assistant Laurie Kohen did the scout and we did not expect them to play zone against us but they did. We played Portland State last week and that helped. I felt like we did a good job of running both our man and zone offense whenever Montana would switch between the two.

Savannah Smith
On the team's strong start
"We just came ready to play. The upperclassmen know what it's like to come back into the locker room after a loss in the first game here and we didn't want to do that. We came out strong and made sure we didn't have to feel that way today."

Game Changer
The Big Sky Most Valuable Player showed exactly why she was on Wednesday afternoon. Smith paced the Northern Colorado offense with 21 points and five assists. She scored in a variety of ways per usual, hitting a step back 3s, slashing through the lane and absorbing the contact for and one situations. Smith added in five rebounds to her stat sheet and turned the ball over just once.

Stat to Know
Northern Colorado was feeling it from behind the arc all game long. The team made 12 treys with seven of them coming in the first quarter. Six different Bears knocked down a triple including both Kianna Williams and Savannah Smith who each had three.

Game Notes
- Four Bears finished the game in double figures scoring, led by Smith's 21 points. Savannah Scott (16), Tirana Clarke (14) and Kianna Williams (11) joined their teammate in double digits.
- Krystal Leger-Walker was the steady rock she usually is for UNC scoring eight points along with five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
- For the third straight game, UNC never trailed. The team led for 38:59 and was never tied outside of 0-0 to begin the game. Northern Colorado last trailed in the third quarter of the game against North Dakota.

What's Ahead?
Northern Colorado moves on to the Big Sky semifinals on Friday afternoon. The Bears will face the winner of the Idaho State-Weber State game. Tipoff for the semifinal is set for 1:05 pm MT.

To stay up to date on all things UNC women's basketball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Twitter at @UNCBearsWBB.